Akufo-Addo On 9-day Globetrotting to France, Belgium, and South Africa

The Jubilee House has officially announced that President Akufo Addo will travel on Sunday, 16th May, for a nine-day official working visit to France, Belgium, and South Africa.

This will be the president’s major official trip to “re-engage with the rest of the world” after the COVID-19 pandemic struck Ghana in March 2020.  

According to the official communique, the President will, on May 18, 2021, attend a summit in Paris, France, on Financing African Economies, which will be held by the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

While in Paris, President Akufo Addo would be having bilateral discussions with the President of the World Bank, and the Managing Director of the IMF, who will both be attending the Summit. The purpose of the discussion is unclear, but critics suspect possible pitching for a World Bank/ IMF programme for Ghana.

Later, President Akufo-Addo at the invitation of the President of the European Council, H.E. M. Charles Michel, be in Brussels, Belgium, to hold bilateral talks with the President and officials of the European Council, and meet with stakeholders committed to the partnership between Ghana and the European Union.

The talks between the President and President Charles Michel are expected to centre on regional security, as well as on sustainability issues in the cocoa and fisheries sectors of Ghana, and their impact on relations between Ghana and the European Union.

The President will, in turn, meet with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Dr. Werner Hoyer, and participate in the ceremony for the signing of a one hundred- and sixty-million-euro (€160 million) facility between EIB and the Ministry of Finance, towards the establishment of the National Development Bank.

He will attend an investor conference in Brussels on Ghana, and also hold a meeting with Ms. Jutta Urpilainen, the EU Commissioner on International Co-operation, to discuss issues relating to the COVAX Facility, which is currently supplying COVID-19 vaccines to the country.

On the last leg of his tour, President Akufo-Addo will, at the invitation of the Speaker, address the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), scheduled to take place on Monday, 24th May, in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

On the trip will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and other officials including the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).